Missouri dispensaries see hundreds of products placed on hold

Early Wednesday, dispensary operators around the state began to see products placed on hold in Metrc.

What started as fewer than 20 SKUs has climbed to more than 200 different products in the 24 hours since.

While dispensary operators scramble to remove the product from shelves and ensure the held product is quarantined, many operators are left with questions.

To date, Missouri’s regulating body for the cannabis industry, the Division of Cannabis Regulation, has made no public announcement or disseminated information to dispensary operators regarding the full breadth of the hold.

Greenway was told by industry sources that more than 20 different brands have had products placed on administrative hold so far.

While some brands and operators have only a few SKUs locked out, other operators see dozens of products on hold. But to date, no single entity has had all product originating from their facility placed on hold in Metrc.

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DCR issued the following statement in response to an inquiry from Greenway:

“Product has been placed on hold due to a pending investigation related to potential product safety concerns. Investigations are ongoing so we cannot comment further at this time.”

“DHSS has suspended operations for three facilities to investigate potential product safety concerns. All product related to these investigations will be placed on administrative hold until the product is deemed safe, remediated, or destroyed.”

In the interim, dispensary operators should ensure they take proper steps to ensure any product under administrative hold is removed from shelves and placed in quarantine. The difficulty in executing this measure lies in the incomplete information being provided to dispensary operators, one source told Greenway.

A dispensary licensee that quarantined more than 40 products at end of business yesterday found the list had grown to more than 100 at opening this morning. With no uniform notifications or alerts as to when products are added to the hold dispensary staff are forced to manually check at regular intervals for the time being to ensure that they are being diligent in attempts to maintain compliance.

Greenway will update this story with additional information and comment as it becomes available.